The Mines of Madness

What might have been

In which the party has some door troubles

After defeating Pax the party attempt a long rest, only to find the queer magical energies in the mine prevent them from sleeping properly, denying them new hit dice.

The party investigate the doors in the southern wall. The tunnel in the eastermost one (area 10) sets off everyone’s trap alarm, though despite repeated attempts at remotely triggering it the party succeeds only in shooting a corpse in the torso and knocking the other one over with a rock bowled from the doorway 40 feet away.

The next door, being barred with a heavy iron spike in the floor, proves both more challenging and intriguing. Murphy punches a hole in the door and Tretch peers through, seeing nothing in the shallow room. The party widens the hole in the door with tools gathered from the floor of the workspace (area 9) and Tretch climbs through, instantly teleported into the pitch blackness of the rust monster lair (area 22). The monk enters the portal as Tretch lights a torch, instantly attracting the attention of the rust monsters. The two monsters converge on them, Tretch’s metal sword and studded armour forcing him to retreat. The monk, however, has no such problems and manages to beat the rust monsters to death.

Meanwhile, Alastair and Murphy investigate the western door, but finding nothing remarkable about the corridor within (area 12), decide the best course is to follow their friends through the portal. Reunited, the party travels north past the lift before turning east (under area 20) to mine shaft Krimhold (area 23) where they encounter the ghost at the bottom. A few minutes of conversing convinces the party they are dealing with some kind of automation and Tretch is lowered into the pit to find the source. He moves the collapsed scaffolding around but is unable to find the source of the disembodied voice, so the party continue on.

They turn north, eventually finding themselves at the door ‘guarded’ by a gargoyle (area 26). The monk starts throwing rocks at it; Alastair discerns the gargoyle is alive and tries to convince the monk to cease. He doesn’t (sorta; Rob refused to acknowledge the successful skill check). Tretch, meanwhile, attempts to open the door and activates the trap. Although he dodges the spear, it hits Alastair, who is too busy arguing with the monk to avoid it.

The party attempts to break through the door; Alastair freezes the hinges and Murphy punches them off. This has no effect on the door (because it’s a fake).

In which the miniboss is defeated.

Tretch and Alastair disturb the dust in the lime pit (area 7), arousing the skeletal lizards. The sound of combat attracts the monk and Murphy, who come down the slide to join their companions. As the first few lizards are dispatched, the fight is joined by the Pax’s skeletal minions (area 8), who throw their axes at the party from the lip of the pit.

The party fight their way through the throng, with each character forced to utilise each of his resources to gain the upper hand on the seemingly endless throngs of undead dwarves. As they climb out of the pit they see Pax Jaggershield himself standing atop a barrel full of blasting powder, surrounded by minions and shouting “finders keepers!” over and over. The party flanks him, dispatching his dwarves before defeating Pax himself while managing to keep the explosive intact.

In which backstory is gleaned and the mine is reached.

Murphy interrogates Gregory “Thunderdome” Vast and learns that the Broken Arrow gang is led by Arrowen Brownsmith. He also reveals that it was gang members Paul and Derrick who first discovered red amber outside the The Mines of Madness, and it was Arrowen who first took it and accidentally killed Paul while intoxicated and it was this act that prompted the gang to sell the drug.

Alastair and Murphy acquisition horses from the Watch quartermaster and set off for the Mine. Their first day passing through the plains surrounding the town passes without incident. On the second day they enter bushland surrounding the mountain area. They notice they’re being tailed by a group of goblins. The group dispatch all but one of them, who they interrogate. The goblin knows nothing of red amber or the Mines of Madness, though the monk attempts to trick the goblin into admitting knowledge of the drug by presenting it to the goblin, who inhales it and goes a little psycho, forcing the monk to kill him.

They follow the goblin party’s trail to their campsite, finding a stash of game.

The party marches on to the Mines, finding it on the end of the second day. Outhouse on the left side of the mine entrance, an old campsite on the right. They stake out the front of the mine, the monk approaching in his beggar disguise after it’s established nothing is happening. Monk enters the outhouse, triggering the purple worm attack. He dodges the worm and takes cover in the mine entrance until the worm retreats.

The party follows the mine tunnel to area 7 with the empty chicken coops. Tretch finds the super happy fun slide and correctly interprets the runes above it: “slide”. He unhesitatingly jumps in, followed by Alastair.

“I wander now among others who seem as determined as I to prove themselves for whatever reason or cause. I am indebted to them as they came to my aid. I have joined with them for no other reason than to repay this debt and I will do this through my hands and deeds as they seek to bring whomever it is to justice.

But the shame from my failures is a heavy burden and I have travelled far in my bid to regain favour with my clan brethren. I must seek a way to redeem myself… Yet still, I struggle with this."

In which we meet our intrepid heroes and divine their quest

Sergeant Black assigns Murphy to the Red Amber case. Tretch and Alastair join him. They check out the local bar, the Falling Pick, but find the monk being assaulted outside by youths high on red amber. They save him, but not before he is disfigured by a Molotov to the face. Murray chases him down and they drag him back to the station for interrogation. The captive reveals he got the drug from a shifty-looking dwarf.

They return to The Falling Pick where Tretch observes a pair of dwarves having a muted conversation with 3 humans. Monk asks them for red amber and is soundly refused.

Tretch follows the dwarves out of town to a homestead. Overhears them say “Gregory is going to be a while.”

The others learn that Rudy, the new dwarven supervisor, was seen kicking possible pushers off Glittergold property recently and the group decide to investigate further. Sergeant Black advises them to check out Missus Palm’s, as new people in town often stay there. Alastair and the monk attempt to anonymously scope out the business, but succeed only in refused the advances of a prostitute and incapacitating a pair of would-be robbers in a flashy and decidedly less than subtle takedown.

Tretch returns to the bar and talks to some miners, learning from a reclusive older dwarf called “Nose” that the drug is likely made from krimsonite, and a gnome named Clarrick Devon might know some more about it.

Tretch seeks Clarrick out the next day to converse, gnome to gnome. After falling victim to the wily tinkerer’s falling windup penis gag, he successfully learns that the drug is indeed krimsonite, a brittle crystal formerly mined at the abandoned Mines of Madness. After learning more about the drug and the sad history of the mine, the group reconvene and decide to return to the homestead outside town.

Finding the door and window have been blocked up, the group attempt to force their way in and have to fight the two dwarves inside. They successfully break into the home and beat the dwarves inside into submission; one crushed under a wardrobe when Alex burst through the door, the other knocked unconscious against a doorframe. Gregory was found hiding inside the chimney and quickly broke under interrogation, revealing that he’s a runner for the gang run by Arrowen and the rest of the gang were up at the mine.